Morris Minor Owners Club

I have finally finished the car, that is put it all back together. It will not start now though, I think it is probably a fueling issue. There is a spark, and the timing is setup at 7 Degrees BTDC which i believe is correct for the midget engine. The fuel pump is working, is there a way of checking to see if the carb is working correctly? it was working before i did the engine work although i have changed the needle. Any advice welcome.
Cheers
Martyn

Well if you tip a bit of petrol down the inlet - it should start and run for a few seconds if the timing is right. So - do you actually have a good spark right at the spark plug lead - and is it at the right point in the 4 stroke cycle ? It's relatively easy to get it 180 degrees out. So check - #1 on the compression stroke - is there a spark as the lead for #1 gets to TDC ?? Also just check the firing order 3421 (some on here prefer 1342). One other point - is there a rotor arm in the dizzy ??

How should one see a spark without the dizzy? Or am I too much a novice?

yes there is a spark at the right point eg no1 at compression stroke and a rotor arm in the dizzy. I will try putting some fuel into the inlet tomorrow and see if that helps. That will confirm my fuel thinking. (Just to make sure i dont have it wrong the compression stroke on 1 is when 1 is at TDC and NO4 is just rocking correct?)
Cheers
Martyn

Correct !! To check for a spark - connect the lead to a spare plug just sitting on an eathed surface - and crank it over slowly on the handle.

If in doubt, the compression stroke is easy to find if you turn the engine over with the handle and hve a finger over the #1 sparkplug hole.

I have finally finished the car, that is put it all back together. It will not start now though, I think it is probably a fueling issue

How long was it off the road? If we are talking years, and fresh petrol down the neck of the carb is a very good test - I got completely stumped once only to find it was stale petrol. Doh!
(It does take many years before the petrol becomes useless though)

Hi Ray,
It ran last week, all be it with only 2 complete pistons!!! I will have a play with the carb tomorrow and see what i find.

Also just check the firing order 3421 (some on here prefer 1342).

And on the manifold it says firing order 1342

Yes, 1342 is the convention as it relates to cylinder 1 (nearest the radiator).

Also on engines where the cylinder numbering is opposite to that which we use, i.e. no.1 to the rear, the firing order is always stated with no. 1 first. Anyone who's has certain French cars will have come across that.
Where it gets complicated is if the manufacturer uses no.1 rearwards and a classification society e.g. Lloyds demand U.K. convention!

Ok,
I have taken the carb apart and i cannot seem to see a problem. I have put the original needle in just to confirm that it a problem there. I tried putting some fuel down the intake and it does splutter into life so i think i am on the right track with fueling. The thing that is strange is the plugs are wet with fuel which would suggest fuel is getting in, there is a spark at the correct time yet i cannot get it to run for more than a couple of seconds. Just a thought but does the fuel pump need to exert a certain amount of pressure? with an 1"3/4 carb would i need to upgrade the pump? Although it did all work before as i said with exactly the same setup. This one is really baffling me. Any other suggestions are greatly received.
Cheers
Martyn

Martyn there are plenty of cars running the larger carbs with the standard pump without problems, did you replace any ignition parts since you last ran it, condensor or rotor arm and even dizzy caps have had some dodgy batches recently if you have put the old ones back in.

all the ignition equipment is brand new aldon stuff, but it was running on this before i had the piston problems last week. Since this i cannot get it to run.

Maybe the engine is just flooded now. Take the plugs out - crank the engine over a bit to clear the petrol - leave it for an hour or two - fit another set of good plugs - and try again ! Your fuel pump has plenty of spare capacity !!

all the ignition equipment is brand new aldon stuff, but it was running on this before i had the piston problems last week. Since this i cannot get it to run.

No problems with the Aldon parts, but what about the rotor arm as dizzy cap as these dont break down immediatly but after a short time, have you tried the old ones ?

all the electrical parts seem fine, i must say though i have tried an old distributor that i had from a different engine and it does seem to fire more reguarly with it so i am trying with that but i definately feel that the problem is fuel. When i originally took the carb apart i cleaned it out and i seem to remember that in the fuel chamber where the fuel is picked up through the pipe(forgive me for not using the correct part names) and the mixture screw adjusts the pipe up and down the said pipe seemed to be mounted higher up than it should be i am wondering if this was done to maybe richen the mixture if that is possible or maybe it had just slipped out when i took it apart. Talking complete nonsense here probably but this is a problem i cannot seem to get my head around. To make matters worse i cannot turn the engine over by hand as it is a midget engine and does not have the adaptor for the handle. Does anyone know what size socket i would need to get to go onto the front nut? then i could turn it over.
Cheers
Martyn

3/4" Whitworth. Ring spanner is better than socket because it has to be quite deep.

Take the bolt out - and fit the proper Minor starter dog. It's not a REAL Minor unless it has a starting handle !!

Yeah, that's true. When I last re-assembled my 1380 I was tempted to put the starter dog on in place of the 'normal' bolt, but I decided not to for a couple of reasons. First, I had got to dig an old engine out and remove it and I was a bit stuck for time, and secondly I thought due to the compression of the 1380 that it's likely to take my arm off when it kicked!!!

Success, changed all the electrics to some old ones i had lying around including distributor, coil and points, richened the mixture as far as it would go and it fired and ran. Ran it round the block a few times and it drives quite well. I have no idea what pinking sounds like but in any gear above about 3/4 throttle it makes a rattly noise quite loud is this pinking? if so i guess i just need to retard the timing(would that be turning the distributor clockwise or anti?) sorry for the stupid questions as i said before engines are the only part of the minor i have no previous experience with.
Cheers
Martyn